Here's one storyline I'd like to see go away:
MLB.com:Ozzie Guillen still is entertaining thoughts of breaking camp with 12 pitchers, meaning there would be just four bench spots available...
Daily Southtown:Whether the Sox break camp with 11 or 12 pitchers also will be a big decision Guillen has to make.
Chicago Tribune:But one of the biggest debates will be whether the Sox carry 12 pitchers or opt for one more position player.
To me, it's no debate at all -- carry an extra bench player. Leave the anal-rententive match-up crap to Tony La Russa, because as it stands now, the Sox have a five-man bench that complements its starters well (assuming Darin Erstad is starting for Scott Podsednik):
The elements:
- Toby Hall. Helps Pierzynski against lefties, better arm.
- Alex Cintron. Only switch-hitter on the team, decent defender at three positions.
- Pablo Ozuna. Secret weapon. Basically will do anything he's told.
- Rob Mackowiak. Good bat, good arm, good on-base skills.
- Eduardo Perez. Cleveland Eduardo would help Thome (and maybe Erstad) against LHP.
I'm also hearing Luis Terrero's name bandied about, but he's never come close to producing.
Though ideally Mack would be starting in left with Erstad on the bench, the above fivesome would be hard to beat, giving the Sox three options at most of the positions on the diamond with the ability to fill in as starters for short stretches.
It'd be silly to waste that ideal sort of flexibility for a pitcher nobody would trust -- the dreaded third lefty. Ozzie Guillen
has said he wants three southpaws to be able to fend off big lefty bats like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, et al. The problem is that three of those four guys have learned how to hit lefties:
Right now, Sizemore's the only guy who's truly exploitable in a match-up situation, and I wouldn't be surprised if he figured it out in 2007. He's good to great in every other facet of the game, and I doubt the 2007 equivalent of
Kevin Walker or
Boone Logan is going to make him or any of these other guys tremble in their spikes.
The Sox have three apparent horses in their bullpen in Mike MacDougal, Matt Thornton and Bobby Jenks. Nick Masset and David Aardsma could very easily be two more. If all goes well, the Sox will already have an inherent luxury in that sixth bullpen spot, to either go with a second lefty who presents himself or Charlie Haeger in long relief. At that point, how many innings would this seventh reliever see a week? It's hard to see any opportunities left.
The 2005 bullpen had only one reliable lefty, yet Guillen never managed his pitchers better because he trusted the hot hand. To a certain extent, playing matchups is an acceptable way of going by the book. Overdoing it, however, leads to a violation of a more important rule -- the more pitchers you bring in, the greater the chance of finding the guy who doesn't have it that day.